Shakespeare in the Park returns to Libby

Since 1973, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks has been offering free entertainment for the people of Montana. MSIP has presented over 2,150 performances since 1973. This year marks 43 years of providing free theatrical performances for the people of Montana.

“Bruce Jacobson, was professor at Montana State University when he created the organization back in 1973,” Kevin Asselin, the artistic director for MSIP, said. “Joel Jahnke directed from 1977 until his retirement in the fall of 2013. I took over as the director in January of 2014, but I’ve been working with the company since 2002 as an actor, director, or fight director.”

MSIP has been performing in Libby every summer since 1987, and will be performing this year at the Libby Elementary Amphitheater on Monday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m.

“This year we will be performing Cyrano de Bergerac in Libby,” he said. “It’s a classic heroic tragedy. It’s an amazing love story that’s encapsulated with beautiful language. The main character is a character that I believe a lot of our audiences will be able to identify with and find great joy in following his journey. There is a lot of great swordplay. The costumes are really gorgeous. We have a great costume designer. All of our costumes are built in house. It’s a tricky play because on paper it’s a lengthy play, but all of our plays have to be less than two hours because we perform under the daylight. We had to chop the play down, but I think it works pretty well. It’s a fast moving play. It’s a love story filled with tons of comedy and swordplay, but it’s also paired with some really emotional undertones of love and tragedy. It plays with the strings of your emotions.”

MSIP is the only fully professional touring theatre program in the state. They produce Shakespeare’s plays and are the only Shakespeare company in the country to reach extensively into rural areas and the only company in the state that offers its performances free to the public.

NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times have chronicled the work of MSIP. In 1991, MSIP was named the recipient of the Montana Governor’s Award for Arts, the highest honor that can be given to an arts organization in Montana.

The mission of MSIP is to make quality, live theatrical productions of Shakespeare and other classics accessible to communities in Montana and surrounding states with an emphasis on rural areas who would not otherwise have the opportunity to see theatrical performances. All performances are offered for free, which makes Shakespeare in the Park available to everyone.

“The model was created back in 1973 to offer the highest quality of professional theatre that we could present to our communities for free,” he said. “We do it because a lot of the communities we go to don’t’ have access to live professional theatre. We get supported by foundations and national grants and get donations from the communities we serve to keep us coming back. We think it’s important for our audience to enjoy Shakespeare in their backyard for no cost. The goal of the program is to serve underserved communities with live professional theater, where they may not otherwise have access to it.”

MSIP travels to 60 communities every summer with performances throughout Montana, northern Wyoming, eastern Idaho, western North Dakota and eastern Washington. Over 40 percent of the communities that MSIP travels to have a population of less than 2,000 and 80 percent have less than 10,000.

MSIP is a nationally recognized outreach program of the College of Arts and Architecture at Montana State University.

The company has grown quite a bit since their first year. In 1973 they were a small company with an annual budget of less than $15,000. They put on 13 shows at seven different cities their first year. This year they plan on putting on 77 shows in 62 cities and now have an annual budget of nearly $700,000.

The auditions for MSIP are competitive and extensive.

“We have national auditions in Chicago, Minneapolis and other areas,” he said. “On average we see over 500 auditions. We end up hiring 10 actors to come out for the tour season. We normally have actors that return from previous years. For instance, six of our 10 actors this year had been with us previously. They are all professional actors and they come from all over. A number of them have been out of school for a couple of years and have been working professionally. Some of them are fresh out of school or graduate school.”

MSIP has two educational outreach programs, Montana Shakespeare in the Schools and Montana Shakes.

Montana Shakespeare in the Schools was established in 1993.

“It’s a high school program that’s been going on since 1993,” he said. “It’s an 80 minute production of a Shakespeare play. It consists of eight professional actors that are working in their profession, but they are also working as teachers. In our workshops after the show we introduce elements of Shakespeare language, theater performance and stage combat.”

Montana Shakes started in 2008 and its goal is to introduce the younger generation to Shakespeare.

“Last year we visited 65 elementary schools across three states,” he said. “It’s a 45 minute performance of a play that we’ve written in house that’s schematically connected to a Shakespeare play. It’s a way for us to introduce our younger audiences to the playfulness and fun of Shakespeare language. The goal of the program is to provide a positive first experience with Shakespeare and an introduction to his work. Based on the response we’ve received thus far, the program truly works.”